Tennis Atlantic

Del Potro and Bautista Agut Rise Up to Capture ATP 500 Level Titles
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

ATP Acapulco

Juan Martin Del Potro won his biggest title in 5 years as he eased past Kevin Anderson 6-4 6-4 in the final. Anderson didn’t appear entirely fit in the final and Del Potro handled his big serve with relative ease.

JMDP defeated Mischa Zverev, David Ferrer (in 3 sets), Dominic Thiem, and Alexander Zverev to reach the final, the last three wins high quality results for the veteran Argentine. Anderson reached his third ATP final of the year by defeating Radu Albot, Adrian Mannarino, Hyeon Chung, and Jared Donaldson, the win over Donaldson coming in three sets.

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares won doubles against the Bryan brothers.

ATP Dubai

It was Roberto Bautista Agut’s finest week on the ATP Tour yet. The 29 year old Spaniard defeated Lucas Pouille 6-3 6-4 in the final, and dropped just one set on the week. Despite a weakened field in Dubai, RBA still scored quality wins against Florian Mayer, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Borna Coric, and Malek Jaziri to reach the final. Jaziri’s dream run in the Middle East coming up short despite upsetting Grigor Dimitrov, Robin Haase, and Stefanos Tsitsipas in consecutive matches.

Pouille defeated Ernests Gulbis, Karen Khachanov, Yuichi Sugita, and Filip Krajinovic to reach the final, dropping sets against everyone but Gulbis and showing his mettle in key third setters. His results in Dubai resulted in his third final of 2018 as the Frenchman has been roaring this year.

Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau defeated Cerretani/Paes in the doubles final.

ATP Sao Paulo

Fabio Fognini staved off a valiant effort from the rising Nicolas Jarry to take the Sao Paulo 250 final 1-6 6-1 6-4. The result is the 5th career ATP title for the Italian #1 who wrapped up the golden swing with straight set wins over Joao Domingues, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, and Pablo Cuevas to reach the final.

Jarry had a remarkable golden swing, gaining ranking points by reaching the quarters or better in the three tournaments that he played. He had a very tough week in Sao  Paulo as he played five three set matches in total. Dusan Lajovic, Guido Pella, Albert Ramos, and Horacio Zeballos were the players who stood in his path, and he took them all down, winning over Pella and Ramos in third set tiebreaks. Jarry rises to #61 in the rankings, a new career high.

Maximo Gonzalez and Federico Delbonis defeated Koolhof/Sitak in the doubles final.